Eclipse January 06 2024 sailing

[TraceyB]

We were on the Celebrity Eclipse January 6th sailing Buenos Aires down to Antarctica. First off the embarkation was terrible, yes they had a terrible storm that knocked out the main terminal. But if you arrived at your specified time, well you could have been in line up to 3 hours. Once onboard you were greeted by wonderful smiling faces that did help. The itinerary was fantastic. Antarctica was a dream. In some spots if you were outside you could have heard a pin drop it was so serene and calm. The only sound you could hear was the sound of whales taking a breathing. So beautiful. Truly a destination we will never forget. We only missed one port with was Port Stanley Faulkland Islands. The winds were pretty bad in the morning but really picked up later in the day. The Eclipse is in dire need of a refurbishment. torn chairs, very dark grimy and warn chairs, drapes in our cabin were torn and the shears were shedded. Up in the oceanview cafe some of the chairs felt as if they would break from right under you. The food in the main dinning room was hit and miss, mostly miss. Very bland or no taste at all. our assistant waiter was one of the best we have ever had she was from West Africa, she was so lovely and during our cruise was promoted to a waiter in the specialty restaurant, she was great and deserved the promotion, our waiter hardly spoke to us at all, I would be very surprised if we got two words out of him. If you asked for his opinion of a food choice he just kind of looked at you and would say I don't know WHAT????. wine steward in main dinning room really knew his stuff and would really talk up a storm almost as if he knew the waiter was a bit of a let down. Oceanview cafe for some reason on this sailing seemed so packed during breakfast and lunch, but food was good. Our room steward was a gem, he was always around if you needed him and kept the room tip top. All in all it was a great cruise because of the itinerary and most of the crew. We are elite plus and thoughts are after this sailing Will I be cruising Celebrity in the future, we definatley will not go looking for a cruise with them just for the ship. If the itinerary is good maybe but way too many other lines out there that are out shinning them. Just an added note, I am in need of a wheelchair and needed assistance for embarkation and disembarking. There was a celebrity employee at the port that helped us so much, his name was Alan and helped us get onboard he basically held our hands getting on, without him there is no way I would have been able to make it On our way off the ship we ran into him and again and again he stepped up to help way above and beyond what we could have ever expected. Happy Sailing.

 

[QuestionEverything]

Thanks for your review.

Indeed look around for other options.

You are the consumer and you are the boss, not the cruise lines.

The Celebrity of today is not the Celebrity of the past, the downward trend is becoming more obvious.

[CruisinShips]

We were on the Eclipse in October and enjoyed it very much. Yes, dated, but we didn't think it was a bad as you described.  I had read the mixed reviews before we booked, and honestly it exceeded what I had been led to expect.

I'm curious which other cruise lines you have heard are "outshining" them.  I am not questioning you words, just curious as from what I am reading, most regulars on pretty much every cruise line are saying similar things about their favorites...

[TraceyB]

1 hour ago, CruisinShips said:

We were on the Eclipse in October and enjoyed it very much. Yes, dated, but we didn't think it was a bad as you described.  I had read the mixed reviews before we booked, and honestly it exceeded what I had been led to expect.

I'm curious which other cruise lines you have heard are "outshining" them.  I am not questioning you words, just curious as from what I am reading, most regulars on pretty much every cruise line are saying similar things about their favorites...

We have been on quite a few other lines and like others say sometimes you win and sometimes you loose and this although not terrible this was not the Celebrity that I know..

 

[TraceyB]

2 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Thanks for your review.

Indeed look around for other options.

You are the consumer and you are the boss, not the cruise lines.

The Celebrity of today is not the Celebrity of the past, the downward trend is becoming more obvious.

Exactly how we felt. Celebrity has always been our first go to, but unfortunately this one did not do it for us. I am sure there were others that loved it.Tracey

[Oceangoer2]

4 hours ago, TraceyB said:

We were on the Celebrity Eclipse January 6th sailing Buenos Aires down to Antarctica. First off the embarkation was terrible, yes they had a terrible storm that knocked out the main terminal. But if you arrived at your specified time, well you could have been in line up to 3 hours. Once onboard you were greeted by wonderful smiling faces that did help. The itinerary was fantastic. Antarctica was a dream. In some spots if you were outside you could have heard a pin drop it was so serene and calm. The only sound you could hear was the sound of whales taking a breathing. So beautiful. Truly a destination we will never forget. We only missed one port with was Port Stanley Faulkland Islands. The winds were pretty bad in the morning but really picked up later in the day. The Eclipse is in dire need of a refurbishment. torn chairs, very dark grimy and warn chairs, drapes in our cabin were torn and the shears were shedded. Up in the oceanview cafe some of the chairs felt as if they would break from right under you. The food in the main dinning room was hit and miss, mostly miss. Very bland or no taste at all. our assistant waiter was one of the best we have ever had she was from West Africa, she was so lovely and during our cruise was promoted to a waiter in the specialty restaurant, she was great and deserved the promotion, our waiter hardly spoke to us at all, I would be very surprised if we got two words out of him. If you asked for his opinion of a food choice he just kind of looked at you and would say I don't know WHAT????. wine steward in main dinning room really knew his stuff and would really talk up a storm almost as if he knew the waiter was a bit of a let down. Oceanview cafe for some reason on this sailing seemed so packed during breakfast and lunch, but food was good. Our room steward was a gem, he was always around if you needed him and kept the room tip top. All in all it was a great cruise because of the itinerary and most of the crew. We are elite plus and thoughts are after this sailing Will I be cruising Celebrity in the future, we definatley will not go looking for a cruise with them just for the ship. If the itinerary is good maybe but way too many other lines out there that are out shinning them. Just an added note, I am in need of a wheelchair and needed assistance for embarkation and disembarking. There was a celebrity employee at the port that helped us so much, his name was Alan and helped us get onboard he basically held our hands getting on, without him there is no way I would have been able to make it On our way off the ship we ran into him and again and again he stepped up to help way above and beyond what we could have ever expected. Happy Sailing.

 

May I ask which cabin category/deck you were in.  I'm 🤞for our Eclipse sailing.  Definitely do not want a dilapidated cabin or dining room experience such as you describe.

[C4HCG]

4 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Thanks for your review.

Indeed look around for other options.

You are the consumer and you are the boss, not the cruise lines.

The Celebrity of today is not the Celebrity of the past, the downward trend is becoming more obvious.

Do you ever comment on the many positive reviews on here from people who have just sailed and loved it? Not everyone is seeing the downward trend so maybe it’s not as obvious as you think.

[TraceyB]

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

May I ask which cabin category/deck you were in.  I'm 🤞for our Eclipse sailing.  Definitely do not want a dilapidated cabin or dining room experience such as you describe.

we were in a balcony on deck 10, good location and our room steward was great. room was clean but just the drapes were an issue, we took clips with us that kept most of the light out.

[KforKitty]

I was on the same cruise but in a suite on Deck 11.  We had no issues embarking but disembarkation was not well organised and although we found our priority baggage easily enough, the baggage hall was a nightmare and getting through customs was a free for all.

 

I did not see any maintenance issues on board and furnishing were fine.  Our cabin was great as were both our butler (Ronald) and cabin steward (Leslie).

 

This cruise was for my 60th birthday and our cabin was decorated and Ronald arranged for a cake and champagne.  Our other staff star was Veniss in Luminae.  My daughter is a vegetarian and he ensured her dietary needs were accommodated.  We mainly ate in Luminae or specialty restaurants and our use of Ocean View was limited to a couple of  (late) lunches.

 

The itinerary was great and the enrichment speakers good and well attended.  Everything was going fine until Day 9.  My daughter had not been well for a couple of days when I felt ill. I was running a fever and did not feel like eating, so I thought I would do a Covid self test.  This turned out to be positive as did my daughter’s.  We reported to medical, retested and confined to our cabin for the last 5 days of the cruise. 😢

 

We had to have all our food delivered but my Covid free husband was not confined.  I must say my only real complaint was the amount of time food orders took.  One evening it was over an hour and another which was evening chic night it took 1.5 hours.  Food often arrive barely warm.

 

Anyhow I was only really ill for a couple of days but had to complete the full quarantine period.  Our 3 excursions were refunded (one was cancelled anyway as we could not tender in The Falklands).

 

So all in all a mixed bag of what should have been the cruise of a lifetime.  Antarctica cruise was fantastic, although I did not get to see penguins up close which was my main reason for doing this itinerary.

 

Catherine

[TraceyB]

14 hours ago, KforKitty said:

I was on the same cruise but in a suite on Deck 11.  We had no issues embarking but disembarkation was not well organised and although we found our priority baggage easily enough, the baggage hall was a nightmare and getting through customs was a free for all.

 

I did not see any maintenance issues on board and furnishing were fine.  Our cabin was great as were both our butler (Ronald) and cabin steward (Leslie).

 

This cruise was for my 60th birthday and our cabin was decorated and Ronald arranged for a cake and champagne.  Our other staff star was Veniss in Luminae.  My daughter is a vegetarian and he ensured her dietary needs were accommodated.  We mainly ate in Luminae or specialty restaurants and our use of Ocean View was limited to a couple of  (late) lunches.

 

The itinerary was great and the enrichment speakers good and well attended.  Everything was going fine until Day 9.  My daughter had not been well for a couple of days when I felt ill. I was running a fever and did not feel like eating, so I thought I would do a Covid self test.  This turned out to be positive as did my daughter’s.  We reported to medical, retested and confined to our cabin for the last 5 days of the cruise. 😢

 

We had to have all our food delivered but my Covid free husband was not confined.  I must say my only real complaint was the amount of time food orders took.  One evening it was over an hour and another which was evening chic night it took 1.5 hours.  Food often arrive barely warm.

 

Anyhow I was only really ill for a couple of days but had to complete the full quarantine period.  Our 3 excursions were refunded (one was cancelled anyway as we could not tender in The Falklands).

 

So all in all a mixed bag of what should have been the cruise of a lifetime.  Antarctica cruise was fantastic, although I did not get to see penguins up close which was my main reason for doing this itinerary.

 

Catherine

Oh i am so sorry to hear you went through all that. We managed to see penguins we did the excursion that took us 2 and a half hours each way to see them, but it was still fantastic and our guide was the best. Hope you are feeling better now. All the best. Tracey